Need Head Gasket or Good Engine Birmingham

[Carltina]

I've blown the gasket. Oil full of water. Overheats and water supply disappears with no leak.
Anyone recommend anywhere for head gasket change or decent engine transplant. Must be 115ps or above or take the relevant parts off mine and how much please.
Engine is 115ps RWD Mk6. Losing money daily with removal jobs cancelled.

[the dutch guy]

did you check the oil cooler?

[knobby1]

+1 on the oil cooler, much cheaper, quicker and easier to do than a head gasket. There 2.4 engines rarely blow head gaskets....they're actually quite robust.

The engine's mainly fail through lack of good maintenance.

Lord Knobrot

[Carltina]

The garage put in another second hand oil cooler which cured the water leak but the first 2nd hand cooler they fitted got oil in the water, showing in the expansion tank. I don't understand oil coolers at all. How they work and why they're fed with water(?!) How would this also get water in the oil as well as oil in the water? I thought an oil cooler was a radiator for and full of oil for an air cooled engine like a Beetle has. I didn't know water cooled engines had them till mine leaked. The AA man said that's defo the gasket but if you guys are right I might save a lot of money. The Transit Centre, Dudley is pickling up my van on Tues for a gasket, and head change.

[the dutch guy]

the oil cooler is basically a normal radiator that works with coolant instead of air flowing tru it. it has oil on the "inside" of the radiator and coolant on the "ouside". but the radiator is made from very thin metal, cracks very fast and much sooner as a engine would. oil coolers fail quite a bit.


fun facT: modern engines have the same idea but also a raditator that works with exaust gas and coolant. this makes the engine heat up much faster. it's also great fun when that piece of crap breaks and leaks coolant into the exaust.

[Carltina]

Thanks Dutch guy. Yes, I guess the ice would break the weakest links first, hence the water pump and oil cooler. However, after they admitted the first replacement cooler was no good and it turned out I also needed a new water pump aswell cos it was still overheating and no heat in cabin, the van did not overheat for much longer- maybe 25-30 miles, rather than about 4 miles and only after this longer run did the coolant keep disapearing and then filling the dipstick and gone all milky.
What you're saying is, the oil cooler may have burst inside hence oil in the water and water in the oil?

[knobby1]

:D Thanks Dutch guy. Yes, I guess the ice would break the weakest links first, hence the water pump and oil cooler. However, after they admitted the first replacement cooler was no good and it turned out I also needed a new water pump aswell cos it was still overheating and no heat in cabin, the van did not overheat for much longer- maybe 25-30 miles, rather than about 4 miles and only after this longer run did the coolant keep disapearing and then filling the dipstick and gone all milky.
What you're saying is, the oil cooler may have burst inside hence oil in the water and water in the oil?

Yep...it's exactly as "the dutch guy" said....the oil cooler is basically a small radiator with oil on one side and coolant on the other...however, the oil pressure, (up to ~70psi-ish).... is always higher than the coolant pressure (which is up to ~15psi-ish),... when the engine is running, and if the cooler passages are split, the oil will always find it's way into the coolant side....but when the engine is turned off, obviously there is no oil pressure and the coolant pressure stays at ~15 psi for quite a while until the engine slowly cools down, (this could take an hour or more), this is when we get coolant finding it's way into the oil...hence "milky oil" syndrome.

If we don't use a suitable "anti-freeze" in the coolant and since plain old water easily freezes in cold weather, when it does freeze it expands ~15% by volume....if it's enclosed and can't get out it'll take the weakest point in the system with it, the freeze plugs in the head/block, the heater matrix, (which is also a small radiator), the oil cooler and the water pump are usually the first things to suffer.!! As you've found out. Fill a plastic bottle of water to the brim, screw the top back on tight and put it in the freezer overnight and see what the result is in the morning...this is exactly what happens to your engine....something's gotta give.

Lord Knobrot

[Carltina]

Thanks Knobby. I get it more fully now. I will ask them how much for a brand new cooler and get them to check that that didn't cause all this oil and water exchange and overheat, coolant loss etc. though sadly seems unlikely as it's been changed twice already, admittedly for 2nd hand ones that you or dutch guy don't recommend. It appears they're not exactly expensive. Are they cheap to fit?

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/New-FORD-TRA ... rmvSB=true

[knobby1]

Are they cheap to fit?

Depends on what you consider "cheap", should only take ~an hour or so, they can be a pig to get at as the sub-frame is in the way.......but the oil pressure switch, coolant and oil levels also need to be checked and sorted. Some of the new "non-genuine" cooler assemblies require different length attaching bolts too so you'll need to check. Some guys have noted different sized hose outlets which don't match the originals too...so be aware of that.
There's also a "modified" cooler assembly which has a metal "spin-on" oil filter which may be worth doing if you're bothering to change the whole thing.

Lord Knobrot

[Carltina]

Thanks Knobby. They will check it before stripping head

[Carltina]

Van was fixed for £420 inc VAT. Transit Centre, Dudley, said, 6 rockers and a core plug had gone

[ned]

Cheaper then a new engine N

[karl]

y did they charge for rockers if water is going into oil